Cruise-ship traffic holding steady

CRUISING ALONG: The Queen Mary 2, pictured off Goat Island in October 2012, is back in Newport through the end of October. / COURTESY DISCOVER NEWPORT
CRUISING ALONG: The Queen Mary 2, pictured off Goat Island in October 2012, is back in Newport through the end of October. / COURTESY DISCOVER NEWPORT

The fall cruise-ship season in the port of New Bedford and Newport Harbor is lighter this year than in years past, but in an international market, promoters say, holding steady is a good thing.
At 35 large cruise ships, according to Newport Harbormaster Timothy J. Mills, the itinerary from May through November is less than what it was in 2011, when 67 ships called there.
This year’s count doesn’t include 10 calls either in Newport or at Fort Adams from two smaller ships brought in by Warren-based Blount Small Ship Adventures, which specializes in increasingly popular river cruises.
Likewise, New Bedford has 23 ships scheduled to call this season so far, more than last year, but less than the 26 that called in 2011, said Edward Anthes-Washburn, deputy port director. In New Bedford, a hurricane barrier prevents entry by the larger ships, but Blount and American Cruise Lines call with passengers in the 90- to 200-range per ship, he said.
Cruise ship traffic is “a little thin” entering the fall season, said Evan Smith, president and CEO of Discover Newport, mainly because business in the industry is cyclical.
“Cruise ships will sell a particular destination for a while, and then they saturate it,” Smith said. “They want repeat customers, so they rotate their destinations.”
Without a pier in Newport, cruise ships cannot dock, but rather have to tender, or connect, with smaller boats that bring passengers ashore. But while the lack of a pier is Newport’s “Achilles’ heel,” Smith said, the 100-foot-deep port and the high-density plethora of attractions remain part of the port’s appeal for major cruise lines. According to the port’s itinerary, the Norwegian Gem has five ports of call coming up, and the Carribean Princess will visit six times this season.
In Newport, changed itineraries have contributed to fewer ship visits. A cruise that combined Bermuda with Newport and Boston last summer was not offered this year, Gregory Gordon, vice president of Shore Excursions for North America and the Caribbean for Intercruises Shoreside and Port Services, said in an email. In addition, Gordon said, two years ago there was a seven-day Canada/New England summer cruise that is also no longer being operated.
Despite the stasis, Gordon, Smith and Anthes-Washburn say the industry is healthy overall, new features are adding to each port’s attractions, and future collaborative marketing of different New England ports to Europeans could increase the number of ship visits.
The Newport mansions continue to hold their allure for many visitors, Gordon said, but he has just arranged for a new ground tour of the Touro Synagogue, an historic place that hadn’t been on his radar but was mentioned by many guests. He contacted Chuck Flippo, manager of the Loeb Visitors Center at Touro Synagogue, and plans to bus 50 tourists to the site on Oct. 9, Flippo said.
Nancy Blount, of Blount Small Ship Adventures, says river cruises are hot right now, and appeal to the do-it-yourself travelers who want to explore offshore attractions more actively.
“On a big, ocean-going vessel, the [ship] is the destination to a certain extent and you’re sitting in a port with 3,000 other people,” she said. “In a smaller boat, you have an opportunity to do a more in-depth, intimate, casual cruise and get closer to a destination and spend more time there.”
Large or small, cruise ships are a key piece of the tourism puzzle, Smith said.
“The fall market is full of conventions, group tours, weddings and fall foliage peepers,” he said. “The cruise ships are a fairly small footprint, but it’s a nice one.”
The New Bedford Harbor Development Commission has hired Michael Crye, who had worked for five years with the Cruise Lines International Association, as a consultant to research how to best market to slightly larger ships such as those that carry 300 to 400 passengers.
“We had some very good conversations with Seaborn Cruise Lines,” Crye said. “But the itineraries are planned out more than two years in advance, so we’re effectively looking at 2015 as dates that [such] ships might be able to come to New Bedford.” •

No posts to display